Past and present status of the Indian Tiger in northern West Bengal, India: an over

Jayanta Kumar Mallick

doi:10.11609/jott.o2212.739-52

Abstract

Changes in the distribution range and the estimates of Tiger (Panthera tigris) populations in northern West Bengal from the late 19th century to 2009 were examined in detail. According to a 2004 census there were 70 tigers in the region, while a 2008 estimate put the number at 8-12. The tiger survives only in protected areas of terai and duars extending over about 1000km2 of Buxa, Jaldapara, Neora Valley and Mahananda, the Panighat and Bamanpokhri Ranges of Kurseong Division and the Chilapata and Kodalbusty Ranges under Wildlife-III Division. Tigers became extinct in Chapramari Sanctuary about a decade back; Gorumara sightings were recorded up to the 1980s. The species has already lost about 1000km2 of its historic range in the territorial forest divisions of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Behar, Dinajpur and Malda Districts. The State Forest Department has undertaken efforts involving regular monitoring, protection measures and habitat improvements and tigers are now being sighted in areas where they were absent for years. Resident tigers appear to be expanding their ranges to new areas, sometimes at higher altitudes as in Neora Valley National Park and Buxa Tiger Reserve crossing into Bhutan and Sikkim.

Highlights

Acknowledgements: I am grateful to Mr Indranil Mitra for providing the G.I.S. maps and Mr Somnath Chakraborty for retrieving relevant data
In northern Bengal tiger population collapse is recorded during the imperial period involving about 1000km2 in the territorial Forest Divisions of Darjeeling district (Darjeeling, Kalimpong, Kurseong) and Jalpaiguri District (Baikunthapur and Jalpaiguri); and in Cooch Behar, Dinajpur and Malda Districts where the species was recorded during the late 19th and early 20th century and became extinct due to excessive anthropogenic pressures (Baker 1886; Campbell 1907; Lambourn 1918; Sengupta 1965, 1969; Burton 1989; Allen et al 1993)
In West Bengal tigers are found in a variety of habitats that range from the hill forests of Neora

Summary

Introduction

Acknowledgements: I am grateful to Mr Indranil Mitra for providing the G.I.S. maps and Mr Somnath Chakraborty for retrieving relevant data. The Indian Tiger, Panthera tigris tigris Linnaeus, 1758 (Carnivora: Felidae), occupies only 7% of its historic range. It is considered a “conservationreliant species” consequent upon its “range collapse” and threats of extinction in small fragmented habitats due to extrinsic factors such as pathogens, poaching and natural calamities, and intrinsic factors like demographic stochasticity and genetic deterioration (Maraj & Seidensticker 2006). Comm.), Jhala et al (2008) record tiger occupancy over only 596km in the protected areas of Buxa, Jaldapara and Gorumara, without considering the habitat of the resident tiger population in Neora Valley National Park and Mahananda Wildlife Sanctuary under Wildlife Circle (north). That tigers have become established in two reserve forests of Baikunthapur and Jalpaiguri forest divisions, tiger land has been extended beyond the protected areas in northern West Bengal

Materials and Methods

Present records Wildlife Division-I

Findings

DISCUSSION